Lean organizations actively seek out waste (time, energy and resources) and inefficiencies in order to maximize value for customers. Every problem acknowledged is an opportunity to improve something for your patrons. Several years ago, South Dakota State University began implementing Lean across campus. Staff at Briggs Library are using Lean principles to improve library processes, both large and small. As part of the library’s strategic plan, every department is responsible for at least two Lean projects per year. The examples presented here illustrate the value of Lean for customers as well as the benefits to the organization.

As library spaces are re-envisioned to meet new institutional goals and user expectations, careful planning is necessary to ensure that internal and external stakeholders are included in the planning process and that resources are used to a maximum benefit. Presenters will share the planning and decision processes used in restructuring three floors at their library.

Every two years, the ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee releases an environmental scan of higher education, including developments with the potential for continuing impact on academic libraries. The 2015 environmental scan provides a broad review of the current higher education landscape, with special focus on the state of academic and research libraries. The document builds on earlier ACRL reports, including the Top Trends in Academic Libraries. The 2015 environmental scan is freely available on the ACRL website (PDF). This presentation highlights key elements of the 2015 environmental scan.

Developed by industry to refine their manufacturing processes, Lean principles can be equally effective when applied to library processes and procedures. Lean management aims to reduce waste (in terms of time, energy, and resources), streamline operations, increase efficiency, and maximize value for customers (or, in our case, patrons). In times of shrinking budgets and increasing patron demand for library services, these considerations are especially valuable. Evaluating and revising library processes and procedures according to Lean principles will result in less time spent on housekeeping duties and more time spent on projects that truly matter. This paper addresses the how’s and why’s of Lean management, the steps and adaptations necessary to apply it to library processes, and the application of Lean principles to lost book searching and weeding at South Dakota State University’s H.M. Briggs Library.

Engaging students during one-shot library instruction sessions requires both creativity and effort. Even when the session is designed for a particular assignment, students’ information needs may not be immediate enough to inspire active participation in class activities. Multiple studies have demonstrated that active learning increases students’ understanding and retention of information, and there is a great deal of literature on the implementation and effectiveness of specific techniques. Much of the recent literature, especially related to library instruction, has focused on technology (e.g. audience response systems, social media, interactive whiteboards, and multimedia presentations) as the primary vehicle for active learning initiatives. The essential ingredients of active learning, however, are low-tech and free: a collaborative attitude, an accepting and encouraging atmosphere, and acknowledgement of epistemological and procedural diversity. In order to engage students in active learning, I designed an experimental framework for my instruction sessions: a set of information literacy cards that resemble traditional playing cards and require the students to interact with the material (and each other).

Research for creative writing is completely different from conventional research: you need to immerse yourself in cultures and thought patterns not your own in order to develop believable characters and depict them, their actions, motivations, and conversations convincingly. A writer needs to be creative in their research and consult a variety of sources, including primary and archival sources, interviews and personal experience, maps and atlases, art and pictures, and sociological or psychological research. How can Librarians teach writers the information literacy skills they need and relate those skills to their immediate research needs? In this session, I will discuss my instruction experience with creative writing classes and the method I developed to address the special needs of writers.

How can we develop critical thinking and solid research skills in students who prefer to Google, copy, and paste? Academic quality in higher education can benefit/profit greatly from the embedded librarian approach to information literacy instruction, and this presentation will explore the possibilities. Not all instances of embedded librarianship are created equally, and this presentation explains several different models, in addition to discussing how collaborative relationships between departments and librarians may improve student research. Experience with embedded librarianship in a beginning speech communication course is explored.

In the current era of never-ending change, effective library organizations must be nimble and flexible. Formal committee structures and reporting lines often get in the way of making changes quickly and may not provide opportunities for leadership development. Communities of Practice (CoPs), as realized at Arizona State University Libraries, provide a flexible model to gather employees from diverse areas and levels of an organization to address a common interest, project or problem. The issues and projects addressed by CoPs at ASU Libraries have benefited overall organizational dynamics and promoted management/staff interpersonal relations, leadership skills, self-awareness, and increased involvement from employees of all areas. Many who participate in these groups go on to participate in further leadership roles in formal groups within the organization. In this workshop, participants will learn about CoPs as an organizational and leadership development resource, including discussion of the theory behind the practice, resources useful for these collaborative working groups and an interactive discussion break-out time for an opportunity to consider how such groups might work in individual organizations.